(in her 40s)

Ironing: why bother?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not some kind of useless domestic failure. I love cooking, I’m one of those weirdos that actually enjoys cleaning and tidying and I’m a whizz at organising my daughter’s school/social life. However, ironing can just go swivel.

It’s times like this that I don’t feel like a proper woman. I’m fully aware that that sentence alone smacks of sexism. Just because I don’t iron, why does this make me less of a woman? Now *I* know it doesn’t make me less of a woman and you dear reader, will probably (hopefully) feel like it doesn’t make me less of woman. However, according to a recent study, women do all the ironing in 4 out of 5 households in the UK. Also, when 95% of my female friends all iron and talk about their huge piles of ironing that they have to get done, it’s usually met with either a blank look from yours truly, a slightly disingenuous “oh dear, how depressing” utterance or a hilarious suggestion that they should just get drunk to get through the ironing. In my head, it is also predictably met with “why the fuck do you have to do the ironing every time. What’s wrong with your husband’s arms?”. It is also met with “what even is ironing?”.

So confession time.

I’ve never ironed in my life.

I don’t even own an iron.

Thus, my child’s clothes don’t even get ironed. Not even her school uniform.

Yep, as I was saying. I sometimes don’t feel like a proper woman. Or at least a stereotyped version of a woman. And I definitely don’t feel like an adult, but that could be for a whole host of reasons. Probably best not to pull on that thread right now.

You see, I just don’t see the point. Ironing takes up a lot of time. According to this new study, on average, a woman will spend around 3,000 hours of her life ironing a pile of clothes that is four times taller than the height of the Shard building. Mate, life is too short for that. I can think of better ways to spend my time. Such as watching TV (yeah I know I could iron and watch TV at the same time, but call me foolish, but I like to sit and relax whilst I watch RuPaul’s Drag Race. I know us women are meant to be good at multi-tasking, but we really shouldn’t have to do it all the time), reading, baking, tickling my 7 year old until she vomits (true story, I’ve achieved this several times. It’s a mark of good parenting. Trust me*) blogging about why I don’t iron or anything but ironing.

But aren’t all your husband’s shirts creased, I hear you cry?

The state of my husband’s shirts are solely not my responsibility. If he wants pristine, crease free shirts, he can buy an iron and iron the fuckers himself.

We have found that hanging his shirts up in the bathroom whilst he has a shower, pretty much leaves them crease-free anyway. This is how lazy people try and make themselves look presentable, people. Feel free to take note.

But don’t you feel guilty sending your child to school with a creased uniform?

Nope. Next question.

No, but really don’t you?

Look, her polo shirts don’t really crease and if they are a bit creased, they tend to sort themselves out after hanging in the wardrobe for a bit. Same goes for the dresses. Her pinafore dresses cover most of the shirts anyway, so even if there are a few creases left, nobody will bloody see them anyway. Plus, she’s 7. If you can’t have slightly creased clothes at 7 years old, when can you?

But I find ironing really relaxing. It’s like meditating for me.

Good for you, but it’s not for me. I find drinking copious amounts of Pinot Grigio whilst cyber stalking ex-boyfriends meditative. We all find our peace in different ways.

Sometimes, I feel quite alone with my opinion that ironing is the biggest waste of time. I know there are kindred non-ironing spirits out there. I just feel like either I’m seriously behind society with my lack of ironing participation OR myself and other non-ironers have discovered something that others are yet to (non-iron) cotton on to. And that is, there is literally no point in ironing. In fact, I’d go as far to say that I feel it was designed purely to enslave women to their domestic chores. I’m making a serious point here guys**. Chucking your iron away is as good as burning your bra.

So, are you with me or against me? Do you love your iron or like me, do you never touch one?

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98 comments

I do not iron. I do not buy clothes that require me to use an iron. My husband has close to 1 million shirts that should be ironed. He is a grown, capable man and he may iron them if he so chooses. I am currently a Haus Frau, and I do take care of all house related chores(because it is now my job and I chose this job) but ironing is NOT one of those chores. I am with you!

One, you can stand and iron whilst you watch RuPaul and two, of course hubby can do his own ironing if he wants. I taught my son to iron. Three, why does it take forever to iron. I only iron on a need to wear basis. Takes me about two minutes a Day to get my shirt ready. My 22 year old son actually irons his t-shirt before he goes to the gym!

1. I don’t want to. I like sitting. Me and sitting are best buddies. 2. He knows this, he just doesn’t want to either. Hence, no iron in the house. Kudos to you for teaching your son to iron. More men like you please.

Actually, I can get quite zen about ironing, but I never do it. Well, hardly ever. I have a couple of linen things that i will iron just before I wear them, if I need to. I have discovered that if you give things a really good shake when you get them out of the washing machine, and then hang them properly to dry – or put them in a tumble dryer that isn’t overfull – they mostly come out ok. And the warmth of your body gets rid of most creases…doesn’t it?

My old manager does the crinkle test before she buys any item of clothing. She sort of grabs it at the bottom and bunches the material up together if it bounces back when she lets go and doesn’t crease she buys it, if it doesn’t it means it needs to be ironed and it stays in the shop! I don’t iron very much at all if I can get away with it. My husband irons his shirts. But most of our clothes don’t get ironed. Life is too bloody short!

I hate ironing – I find the process annoying and my shirts (the only thing I’ve every ironed) always end up wrinkled by the end of the day through sitting at my desk / walking throughout the office, so what’s the point? My boyfriend (with whom I live) enjoys ironing and I think I will always be in awe of that. If I’m going to an event or a place with a black tie / formal dress code (rare), I hang up whatever shirt / pants / dress I’m wearing in the bathroom while I shower and let the steam smooth out any imperfections. That’s good enough!

Oh thank goodness for that!! I thought I was the only person on the planet who made my kids go out rocking the wrinkled look!! I despise ironing – I own an iron but I refuse to use it. It’s handy that my three kids are at that age where they’ll do chores for cold hard cash haha.

I have one blouse which I iron. I wear it to funerals and for performing in concerts and I iron it on the morning of the day it’s needed. Whatever I replace it with will not need to be ironed. I don’t mind ironing and find it quite relaxing, but I tend to wear things that don’t need it.

You have never ironed nor owned an iron? These are #lifegoals right there! 😂 I do own an iron, but not an ironing board. I have a handful of clothes that require ironing. Needless to say I don’t wear them often!

Ironing is the bane of my life… in a past marriage (30 years long) it provided himself with the stick neccessary for shutting me down, putting me in my place, a reason to quantify his abuse and the cord to the iron came in handy on occasion. Here excuse me for adapting your vernacular … he was full of fuckery!, Now, today, my best beloved cares not a scrap if I do or if i don’t. But, a teeny it of me feels like the other one wins if I never do any, if I can’t overcome the memory and iron on occasion without vomiting I am still mentally in his power. So maybe once in six weeks I will iron a duvet cover and pillowcases because for a moment the bed will look nicer… at least until the husband nests it just to remind me he doesn’t care.

He absolutely sounds like he was full of fuckery and I’m so very glad to hear you are now well shot of him. Well, done for occasionally having the courage to iron. I understand your point that it is like sticking two fingers up at him. All the best x

When I read your scooter post I was like, there is no way in hell I could ever love this woman any more than I do right here in this moment. And then you wrote this post. I want to join your non-ironing, wine drinking, stalking ex-boyfriend cult if you’re taking new members.

If I could like this post a thousand times I would. I don’t iron – I grew up watching my mother iron everything from socks to bedsheets until 1am and I swore that when I became an adult I would find better things to do with my time. I know we have an iron, but I couldn’t tell you where it is…

I have to iron for my job and it takes up SO MUCH TIME! And trying to do it while children aren’t around is nearly impossible. When they were on holiday (I’m a nanny btw) I was still working and doing random things around the house and spent a combined total of 6 hours ironing. They have school uniforms too so I have to do the little puff sleeves on their white button-down shirts, and sheets for a clinic. Lots and lots and lots of sheets.

My mom used to pay me .75 cents to iron my dad’s work shirts. I HATED it. I’ve pulled out an iron exactly once in the last year in order to iron my wedding dress. I figured since it was a secret wedding and all, (and the dress cost $20) I should at least not be wrinkled. But, I hate that thing–the iron not the dress or the wedding. I am 100% with you. Wash and wear baby, all the way.

Exactly, exactly. I am literally so heart-warmed to hear so many ladies like your good self omit ironing from their lives. Agree that if you’re going to go crease-free for one day of your life, it should probably be your wedding day.

Okay, I will freely admit that I am anal when it comes to crisp ironed clothes. If it is cotton, it gets ironed. (Undies excluded. Not that anal) I even iron my sweaters. I know, I know, there are support groups for people like me, and I would happily attend the meetings. In a nicely ironed outfit. 🙂

Hayley, during all of our housesits, not one person has introduced us to their iron. No mention of one. Yes, to the coffee machine, the wifi code and the chocolate stash, just not one iron location. The wind and steam in the bathroom are great substitutions if you need that less crinkly look 🙂 We live out of a suitcase need I say anymore!

I haven’t ironed since we moved to a small house in 1993 where there was no room to set up an ironing board. I have two irons here (one I inherited and one I bought over forty years ago. For the last 24 years my ironing board has been hanging on the back of a shed door — just in case.

My husband started working for himself not long before we moved here and did not need to wear office attire anymore. We mostly live in jeans and tees now and I’ve never ironed sheets or underwear. My husband’s mother used to, so this caused some friction at first when he wanted me to iron his underwear because his mother thought it was healthier. I thought ironing sheets was ridiculous.

My husband was raised in a culture much different than ours where women waited on their husbands hand and foot. My mil thought I should do the same thing, but quickly learned I would not do all she did. She didn’t like that. I did iron what was necessary for us to look presentable at work and church while we still worked outside the home, but if my kids wanted their play clothes ironed, they had to do it. They also had to launder their playclothes themselves, since they preferred putting them in the hamper to hanging them up.

Thank you for showing me I’m not the only one who no longer irons. I have bought perma press items as long as they’ve been making them, and I refuse to buy linen.

Nightmares of my childhood, being assigned ironing duty. I remember someone gave me a bottle of starch when I moved into my own place. Whatever for? It wasn’t like I was going to use it. When clothes get dried, I fold or hang them up right away. Wrinkles don’t happen. For the few items that it does…steam from the shower is fantastic. Although we did buy a travel steamer to make that easier. My husband uses it once a week. I think I used it once.

When I was in high school I was expected to come home from school, grab some damp ‘ironing’ from a never-empty bag in the fridge (it was in the fridge so the damp clothes wouldn’t mildew in the heat of our Southern Illinois non-air conditioned home) and iron clothes in the living room, where the never-put-away-unless-company-was-coming ironing board lived. So no. I never ever iron!

I iron my clothes and my husband does his. In India, we also have people who Iron – so when the batch is big or too many of his shirts that he doesn’t want to iron or my sarees, I would give them to this guy next door who can iron for a charge per cloth and give us. So, I never realized that it would be such a big thing. But yes, reading your post takes me to the point about women doing chores and thinking that it is their job. Ideally it is not.

Ha! Brilliant stuff. Another non-ironing household here.
I have never been propositioned in a bar only for a creased shirt to put a stop to any further proceedings.That is all the reasoning I ever needed.
(Disclaimer: Number of times propositioned in a bar = 1)

I am against you on this one! Even though I have been ironing since I was 11, so that is already more than 40 years of servitude to it, I can’t NOT iron. I just can’t!
As I mentioned before both myself and my husband were in the Army, where we became pretty expert at it, mastering a spray bottle and a tin of starch with aplomb! If I am not well or working then he is more than capable of doing the ironing and will do it.
I know many people who don’t iron yet always look immaculate, but when I see someone is a crumpled up, creased shirt (or even worse, uniform), then it offends my poor eyes!

The only reason I hate this post is that I didn’t write it myself and I could have!
Occassionally I might pull a creased blouse from under a pile of other clothes and if I’m in a super duper high-as-a-kite mood, I’ll iron it. Or shove it back where I got it & wear something else. My hubby irons his shirts & his jeans. Before I married him he lived alone and ironed for himself. I told him I cook but I don’t iron. He laughed and replied, “I’d never ask you to iron my clothes for me.”
My eldest daughter has a husband and 5 children and she doesn’t own an iron.
Ha ha…..and my 23 yr old gets rid of her creases with the hairdryer! 😂

When I moved to the UK, I lived with my in-laws for several months. I’d been a desultory iron-er in the US, mostly employing the steam-in-the-shower trick. Watching my mother-in-law spend an entire Sunday afternoon ironing everything from the sheets to my father-in-law’s socks cured me.
When we moved into our own house, I didn’t even buy an iron. Child’s school uniform was wrinkled from time to time. I don’t care. My Sunday afternoons are my own!

Enjoyed this, I only iron about once every two weeks or so, when it gets desparate. Don’t iron my husbnds stuff, he does his own. Each to their own as they say but for me there’s always so many other things I’d rather be doing. Like with many things I think society and our conditioning growing up leads us to believe we ‘should’ be doing it!!

I don’t clean and tidy enough. I am a crap cook. The only thing I am obsessive about is the laundry. I iron pillowslips. I actually get great satisfaction from a row of husband’s t-shirts all clean and nicely ironed to be put away. Then he gets soup and toast for dinner. Hey, we all have our good and bad 😉

My husband expects EVERYTHING ironed even underwear. He’s obsessed with ironing or rather me ironing. I hate it and have started putting UN IRONED stuff away AND he’s not noticed!!! I hate ironing. It rots my brain.

Hahahahahahaha! We own two irons in this house, because we were grownups for awhile before we got married. My Husband’s Iron is the one he uses to iron his own work clothes every day before he goes to work. I also use it, but only for a) sewing projects (e.g. pressing out seams) or b) prepping to offload my kids’ clothes at our twice-yearly resale events. And even then, it’s usually my mother doing the ironing, NOT me, because that’s something I can delegate to her. My iron I keep in reserve, in case the other ever breaks (or I ever get a dedicated sewing-room ironing space set up). But “never needs ironing” is a prerequisite for ALL clothes I buy myself and my children. And the hand-me-downs they get that are 100% cotton and thus look like s#!+ if they’re not constantly ironed? Straight into the resale pile they go! 🙂 Seriously, who ever thought that 100% cotton sundresses were a good idea for children who don’t have live-in servants?

Lol love this. I HATE ironing. My first few years of marriage I ironed all my husband’s work shirts in front of the TV, but still didn’t make me feel any better. I can cook, bake, clean, scrub showers and floors but I hate ironing and vacuuming is a close 2nd, but unfortunately, I don’t like dirty floors so I’ll do that.
My iron is a relic now hiding out in some junk box in my storage room for some proverbial day I might need it HA! The steam from a shower works in a pinch and I’m real good at getting clothes out while still hot from the dryers, shaking the crap out of them and hanging them up. And I can honestly say that none of our clothes looked wrinkled. Those expensive dress shirts with fufi names of my husband’s get sent to the dry cleaners so they can mess with the details. 🙂

Further evidence for you being my spirit animal. I HATE ironing. I simply don’t do it (almost). And, when I do, I burn my kitchen table doing it because I don’t own an ironing board. The ONLY reason I own an iron is because I can’t stand how new curtains have those package creases. That’s the only thing I use the damn thing on!